Canada’s National Ballet School holds auditions in London

Auditions for Canada’s National Ballet School took place in London Thursday.

Canada’s National Ballet School is in London this week holding auditions for a couple dozen hopefuls – and they were in for a surprise, a hip-hop dance class was on the agenda Thursday.

“We started as a school offering this other genre as part of the audition process for a number of reasons,” said Artistic Director Margaret Tracey. “What we are seeing in the ballet world right now is a really beautiful renaissance and evolution, and one of the things that we at Canada’s National Ballet School are very committed to is breaking down the barriers of access for ballet.”

Students vying for a spot at Canada’s most prestigious dance school are expected to show their skill in a variety of genres.

“The study of other art forms and other dance forms only enhances and makes ballet dancers even more versatile and more adaptable,” insisted Tracey, “We really do want to break down that this is an elite art form only for certain types of dancers.”

Every year the school receives roughly 2,000 applications, whittling down the number prospective dancers to less than a hundred who are actually admitted to their programs.

Applicants are as young as ten years old, and as old as post-graduate students.

Nineteen students will give their best shot before the judges in London this week - and according to Tracey, London was not initially on the plans for their national tour, “The great interest we started seeing in the fall when we were traveling across Canada, had us stop and rethink, some of the more regional cities that we have visited in the past,” she said. “The school has not been to visit London in a number of years. So we are thrilled that back in December we thought, let’s add this as an additional stop on our national audition tour.”

They are in London until the end of the week, before moving on to Buffalo.